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Export Licences
Ann Clwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 8 July 2002, Official Report, columns 650–52W, on export licences, with which countries the Government attach importance to the maintenance of a strong and dynamic defence relationship. [70226]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Pursuant to the answer of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on 8 July 2002, Official Report, columns 650–52W, the Government attach importance to maintaining strong and dynamic defence relationships with our NATO allies, our EU partners, and many other countries around the world who share our commitment to international peace and stability.
Rapid Reaction Embassies
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs where he plans to instigate his first rapid reaction embassies. [71939]
Mr. MacShane: We were the first western embassy to open in Kabul. This involved extremely rapid provision of personnel, vehicles and IT communicating equipment.
It is not possible to predict where the next rapid deployment will be.
Applications for Asylum
Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the method of handling the applications for asylum by two boys in Melbourne on 18 July. [72128]
Mr. MacShane: It is the responsibility of the Australian authorities to deal with applications for asylum in Australia in accordance with their obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention. While the brothers remained in the Consulate in Melbourne they were allowed access to legal representation, provided with food and drink, and given the opportunity to telephone their parents.
Overseas Territories
Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 16 July 2002, Official Report, column 175W, on overseas territories, with which overseas territories his Department is consulting about refining and improving their statistical returns. [71571]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: [holding reply of 22 July]: We maintain a dialogue with all overseas territories over governance issues including, as appropriate, statistics. HMG is providing assistance to help refine and improve the statistical returns in Anguilla and Turks and Caicos Islands through DFID's development programme and has,
24 Jul 2002 : Column 1319W
in the past, provided such assistance to Gibraltar. St. Helena has received similar support through the United Nations Development Programme. In addition, the Governments of other Overseas Territories have from time to time employed external consultants to assist them in producing statistical data. This has been the case in the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda and Cayman Islands.
Travellers Tips
Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 17 July 2002, ref. 68235, if he will list his travellers tips for gay travellers and his guidelines on forced marriage. [72549]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The tips for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender travellers and the guidelines for the police on forced marriage are both available on the FCO website—www.fco.gov.uk.
Parliamentary Answers
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) for how long he retains documents referred to in parliamentary answers on his Department's website; [72266]
- (2) whether it is his policy to ensure that documents referred to in parliamentary answers are available via his Department's website. [72263]
Mr. MacShane: This Department aims to be as helpful as possible in responding to hon. Members' questions. Where it is helpful to refer hon. Members to other documents as part of the substantive reply, this may be done by making hard copies of documents available in the Libraries of the House, or by reference to material available on the Department's website. Such documents are currently retained on the FCO website indefinitely.
The FCO also adheres to Office of the e-Envoy "Guidelines for UK Government Websites", which sets out policy on website content and information management.
Malcolm Rennie/Brian Peters
Mr. Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 21 June 2002, Official Report, column 633W, on Malcolm Rennie/Brian Peters, whether the document that his Department has agreed to publish will include (a) the Department's correspondence with Mr. Rennie's and Mr. Peters' families from 1975 to 1977 and (b) the minutes of the meetings with Mr. Horta in 1976 and Mr. Dunn in 1977. [72574]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The political files relating to the Indonesian intervention in East Timor and the deaths at Balibo that the FCO will be releasing shortly will include:
- the minutes of a meeting that an FCO official held with Mr. Horta in February 1976;
documents about an approach made to the FCO in 1976 by an MP on behalf of relatives of Malcolm Rennie. I am informed that other correspondence with relatives of Mr. Rennie and Mr. Peters was routinely destroyed after some years in accordance with the usual practice for consular case files.
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Bilateral Ministerial Meetings
Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 20 June 2002, Official Report, columns 534–35W, on bilateral ministerial meetings, on what date Baroness Amos visited Dublin in July 2001; and which Ministers she met during her visit. [72619]
Peter Hain: On 22 July 2001, my noble Friend Baroness Amos attended the memorial service in Dublin to mark the 25th anniversary of the assassination in 1976 of Christopher Ewart-Biggs, Ambassador to Ireland. She met the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, and the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Brian Cowen, as well as a number of other senior Irish representatives.
UN Special Rapporteur
Mr. Win Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has to support the establishment of a UN Special Rapporteur on violence against children. [72327]
Mr. MacShane: The Government are appalled by the use of violence against children and we fully support the UN mechanisms that tackle the issue of violence against children. These include:
- the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography
the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, its causes and consequences (which covers the girl child)
the Secretary-General's Special Representative on Children in Armed Conflict.
Given the existing mechanisms, we do not believe that the creation of an additional Special Rapporteur would be the most efficient or practical way of addressing the immediate problems faced by these children although we continue to consider all proposals on their merits.
Grant in Aid
Sir John Stanley: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the actual and planned grant-in-aid to the (a) BBC World Service and (b) British Council for each of the years 1990–91 to 2005–06, expressed in constant prices. [72769]
Mr. MacShane: The table lists actual grant in aid outturns for the BBC World Service and the British Council from 1990–91 to 2001–02 and plans for 2002–03 to 2005–06. All figures are stated in real terms at current prices (2002–03). Plans are on a full resource budgeting basis, net of depreciation. From 1997–98 the BBC World Service grant in aid has included c. £4 million in respect of overseas relay station costs transferred from the FCO and from 1998–99 it has included c. £4 million to £5 million in respect of the World Service's subscription to BBC Monitoring.
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| BBC World Service | British Council | |
|---|---|---|
| 1990–91 | 192 | 109 |
| 1991–92 | 186 | 119 |
| 1992–93 | 189 | 118 |
| 1993–94 | 196 | 121 |
| 1994–95 | 194 | 121 |
| 1995–96 | 196 | 123 |
| 1996–97 | 181 | 119 |
| 1997–98 | 177 | 108 |
| 1998–99 | 178 | 139 |
| 1999–2000 | 182 | 144 |
| 2000–01 | 191 | 145 |
| 2001–02 | 193 | 149 |
| 2002–03 | 201 | 157 |
| 2003–04 | 215 | 166 |
| 2004–05 | 214 | 167 |
| 2005–06 | 222 | 172 |
Consultation
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what public consultations have been commenced by his Department since 1 April; and what the (a) closing date and (b) website address of each were. [72059]
Mr. MacShane: The following consultation document has been issued since 1 April 2002:
- Strengthening the biological and toxin weapons convention: countering the threat from biological weapons.
The website address is http://www.fco.gov.uk/Files/ kfile/btwc290402,0.pdf or the page can be accessed through the Consultations page in the Documents and Reference area on the FCO website.
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